After reading the above four or five responses I was sitting here thinking those responses are just too much suger for the dime.

A couple of real inconvienent facts.

A the end of the Civil War, all of the defeated southern states had a majority of black Governors, Senators and Representatives. They were all Republicans, as was Stephen Douglas. This is why when you read of an Afro American being elected to a high state office, the comment most often heard is the first black Governor "since the Reconstruction".

The Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was passed by a majority of Republicans voting for it; the majority of Democrats voted against it.

The only people who exploited the major unions (Steel, Auto, Teamsters, etc.) was their own leadership and the mafia.

At some point I need to get a little more time to answer the rest, because as some of you have recognized above, there are two sides (and maybe more) to the above views.